Hundreds of thousands of piglets are castrated without anesthesia in Sweden every year so that we may be guaranteed meat without boar odor. The smell appears while cooking meat of boar and is described as urine- and sweat-like. High levels of androstenone and skatole are considered the main factors behind boar odor. Skatole is a metabolite of the amino acid tryptophan, which is formed in the colon of all pigs. Androstenone is a steroid hormone that is released from the Leydig cells in the testes of boars.

The purpose of this review was to study the cow eye physiology, focusing on how it registers light, and to see how light affects the cow?s milk yield. It has been showed in studies that more hours of light per day (16 hours of light a day) as opposed to about 9-12 hours of light a day, increases milk yield for dairy cows. This review contains suggestions on how this is connected with the physiology of the eye. Vision is an important sense for many mammals, and is used to check out the animals surroundings. Sensor cells in the eyeball help in turning photons from the light into signals to the brain.

Diabetes mellitus is an endocrine disorder affecting a range of different mammals, including dogs, cats, horses and humans. Worldwide, 347 million people have diabetes, and the disease is an increasing burden on the world?s poorest countries. The disease is characterised by chronic hyperglycaemia and afflicted individuals experience increased thirst, polyuria and weight loss, sometimes despite increased appetite. Diabetes mellitus is either insulin dependent or non-insulin dependent.

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common hereditary disease that leads to an early death. Earlier CF was considered as a childhood disease but today the expected age is 50 years. CF affects all the epithelial cells in the body which makes mucus and other body fluids more viscous than normal. The thick mucus leads to among other things respiratory problems and infections of the lungs. Today there is no cure, only medicines that controls the symptoms.Aim: To describe parents experiences living with a child with CF.

Nötcenter Viken is a Swedish nucleus herd for dairy cattle. The goal for the farm is to select suitable mothers for the next top generation of bulls. Today the selection for udder health is based on a pedigree index and phenotype data. The pedigree index is based on the cow?s father and grandfathers breeding values.

This thesis has been performed at the system development company Verendus System AB, together with the home care company Basic Care Unit (BCU).The thesis has consisted of developing a web based informationsystem for BCU in which they can administrate their business. At the time of writing this thesis, BCU was using a windows-application to administrate their activities, which was both costly aswell as resulting in an unnecessary burden. The aim the thesis has thus been to create a platform-independent information system that simplifies and streamlines BCUs work by being user-friendly aswell as imposing some simplifying features.The students has been developing the system by the help of a work method they themselves developed. The method consisted of working in several iterations that each had several milestones. The method resulted in the students knowing easily when each iteration was finished or not.The thesis resulted in a working platform independent prototype.

Peritonitis is a potentially life-threatening disease in horses. With no published work from Sweden, the objective of the study was to describe the occurrence and demographics of horses with peritonitis and to evaluate the outcome of treatment in terms of short-term survival during a ten-year period in a large clinic in Sweden. Data were examined in a retrospective manner in 69 horses diagnosed with and treated for peritonitis at Universitetsdjursjukhuset (UDS) in Uppsala between 2002-2012. Demographic data examined included age, breed, gender, history, duration of illness before arriving at UDS, reason for seeking veterinary care, initial clinical findings (general state of health, heart rate, respiratory rate, mucous membrane appearance, rectal temperature, abdominal sounds, rectal examination, nasogastric tube results), abdominocentesis results (abdominal fluid analysis including visual inspection, leukocytes and protein, cytology, bacterial culture and sensitivity pattern), complete blood count (CBC), Serum amyloid-A (SAA) upon presentation and a follow up, plasma fibrinogen, plasma protein and albumin, treatments, length of hospitalisation and outcome. All medical records with the diagnosis of peritonitis were extracted from the medical records system Trofast. All records with any other diagnosis code referring to trauma such as rectal tear or ruptured uterus, recent abdominal surgery, external trauma or rupture in the gastrointestinal tract were excluded. To be included in the study, the peritoneal fluid should contain more than 20.000 cells/?L, have a peritoneal protein value of >30 g/L; or have a significantly changed peritoneal fluid sample (orange with increased turbidity or worse) in cases where no data on cells or protein were available. The horses were divided into two groups; one where the peritonitis was deemed to have an idiopathic aetiology (primary peritonitis) and the other group where the peritonitis had a possible aetiology such as intestinal parasites, impaction etc.

Apart from recognizing and neutralizing threats, antibodies also have the ability to regulate immune responses against their specific antigen. IgG administered together with erythrocytes is well known to induce >99% suppression. This has been used to prevent haemolytic disease in new-borns since the 1960's, but the mechanism behind it is still not completely understood. The effect on the primary response is well established, but its influence on induction of immunological memory is still heavily debated. In this study adoptive cell transfer of splenocytes to irradiated mice was used to survey the effect IgG has on induction of immunological memory without disturbance from the primary IgG response.

I det här examensarbetet dimensioneras en solcellsanläggning med batteribank till fyra kolonistugor som kommer att vara bebodda under sommarhalvåret på Wij Trädgårdar i Ockelbo. Den förväntade elanvändningen beräknas för två olika brukarbeteenden. Ett brukarbeteende där hushållsapparater med höga effekter (exempelvis mikrovågsugn) förväntas ha kortare drifttider vilket resulterar i lägre krav på installerad solcellseffekt samt en mindre batteribank.För den kemiska energilagringen i en batteribank undersöks flera olika typer av uppladdningsbara batterier. AGM blyackumulatorn är det batteri som anses vara lämpligt för kemisk energilagring i solcellssystemet och som har använts vid dimensioneringen av batteribanken. Vidare undersöks möjligheterna att lagra elektricitet småskaligt genom pumpat vatten till ett vattenmagasin, som ett komplement till energilagringen i batteribanken.

Twitching is frequently used in horse management because of its sedating and pain-relieving effects. In this study, the effects on the horse?s nervous system by twitching were investigated by thermography of the skin temperature. The temperature is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system through postganglionic sfincters at the capillaries of the skin. The effects on the endocrine activity have also been studied by the measuring of ACTH and cortisol in blood plasma.

The RECK gene is a relatively new discovered gene with important implications for cancer research. The research has been primarily concentrated on the human gene with the ultimate aim to identify the invasive characteristics. Up regulated RECK is linked to significantly prolonged survival rates in patients with severe forms of malignancies. RECK is normally expressed in all cells of the body and has an important role in the balance between destructive and constructive features of the extracellular matrix. The RECK protein is a membrane-bound glycoprotein that inhibit matrix metalloproteinases which has the function of breaking down the ECM. There is a significant correlation between RECK gene expression and the formation of new vessels, presumably via the mediation of VEGF which is an important and powerful inducer of angiogenesis.

Since several lifestyle diseases are associated with obesity much research is carried out within the area. Researchers have found that oxidation of fatty acids within the body?s cells may give rise to peripheral signals which regulate food intake, but it is still unclear where such a mechanism takes place. Although much evidence suggests that it is the hepatocytes in the liver that send signals regulating food intake, some researchers have begun to question this theory. Instead they argue that the mechanism takes place within the enterocytes since they are well localised in the gut for such assignment.

Background:Alzheimer's disease is a disease that primarily affects the elderly but also younger people. Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia which means that you get changes in the cerebral cortex and cells gradually die. The disease causes memory loss and things that were obvious before will be difficult for the sufferer. Alzheimer's disease also affects next of kin to a large degree; they will have to take a great responsibility. The next of kin are entitled to support from healthcare.Aim:The aim was to highlight next of kin' experiences of healthcare to their family members with Alzheimer's disease.Method: The study was based on narratives, which in this case means analysis of autobiographies.

Background:Alzheimer's disease is a disease that primarily affects the elderly but also younger people. Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia which means that you get changes in the cerebral cortex and cells gradually die. The disease causes memory loss and things that were obvious before will be difficult for the sufferer. Alzheimer's disease also affects next of kin to a large degree; they will have to take a great responsibility. The next of kin are entitled to support from healthcare.Aim:The aim was to highlight next of kin' experiences of healthcare to their family members with Alzheimer's disease.Method: The study was based on narratives, which in this case means analysis of autobiographies.

Background:Alzheimer's disease is a disease that primarily affects the elderly but also younger people. Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia which means that you get changes in the cerebral cortex and cells gradually die. The disease causes memory loss and things that were obvious before will be difficult for the sufferer. Alzheimer's disease also affects next of kin to a large degree; they will have to take a great responsibility. The next of kin are entitled to support from healthcare.Aim:The aim was to highlight next of kin' experiences of healthcare to their family members with Alzheimer's disease.Method: The study was based on narratives, which in this case means analysis of autobiographies.